


it's been great fighting with you boys

by zxrysky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Capture-the-flag, I don't want to give away too much, M/M, Shapeshifting, all in good fun, birthday gift, but - Freeform, but all in good fun!, for kels, from haus of klance, it's an intense fight, oh boy that gives away a lot doesn't it, they fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 23:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7820623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zxrysky/pseuds/zxrysky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stay calm, Keith. Deep breaths.”</p><p>“It was a pleasure fighting with you two, but I really don’t think I’m going to make it. Shiro, please, stop Lance from choking on his idiocy. That’s all I ask.”</p><p>-=-</p><p>The team plays a game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's been great fighting with you boys

**Author's Note:**

> for kels from haus of klance!! happy birthday you sweet person! this shouldn't be late, is it? oh boy oh boy, but hope you enjoy this!! <3

They’re in the main hall, the whole crew with Allura and Coran, and there’s a solemn aura hanging in the air. Everyone’s quiet, arms crossed or stuffed into pockets, and they’re looking at the ground, lips tugged down and frowns marring their faces.

 

It’s a difficult choice. One of them - out of the seven, one of them will have to stay. An even number is essential for this plan. Two groups will be delegated, and someone will have to stay behind to look over the ship and ensure the crew’s overall safety: this someone is usually Coran, but he’s uncharacteristically quiet and his eyes are fixated on the wall, refusing to say anything. He wants to go on this mission - for what reason, Lance can’t understand. But it must be important, seeing as Coran is usually incredibly easy-going, and willing to stay behind to be the backup.

 

“We’re going to have to make a choice,” Shiro says eventually, but he looks like he’s being torn apart inside. He looks devastated, and Lance’s fingers tremble against his jacket. He wants to reach out to help Shiro, steady him, help him make the decision but no, he can’t. This is a choice Shiro has to settle with Allura. They’re the leaders of the team, after all. Voltron is as much Allura and Coran as it is the five of them. Unless, that is, someone volunteers.

 

Allura sighs deeply, fingers clenching against her robes, and Coran visibly swallows. “Isn’t there another way?” She asks, pain ringing through her voice. “We all want to go on this mission. It’s… important to us. We all have reasons to want to go.”

 

“But we need an even number,” Hunk reminds everyone. “As much as I hate to point it out, we need two groups of three, and there’s seven of us. Someone’s going to have to opt out. Someone’s going to have to _stay_.”

 

He sounds like he’s going to cry and Lance can’t help it - he reaches out and pats his buddy on the back, hard.

 

“I’ll sit out,” he says, volunteering himself. It’s alright, he’s not necessary for this mission - not necessary to go for the mission, not essential to its success, he can sit out and wait. He’s the Blue Paladin, he’ll start using some of that patience Shiro tries so hard to drill into him and settle down in front of the screens and watch over them, watch over the castle. Coran does it all the time, surely it can’t be too bad?

 

“Are you sure?” Pidge asks, concerned. “I-” She pauses, tugging at her shirt, and looks up at Lance. “I know how much you want to be on this mission.”

 

“Nah.” Lance ruffles her hair, and slings his hands in his pockets, pointedly not looking at Keith. “Just- call me when one of you gets tagged, alright? I’ll come in and be your backup. Don’t worry. You all need someone to look after the castle anyways.”

 

Shiro levels a look at Lance, like he’s measuring Lance to see if he’s up to standard, but Shiro nods after a while, and his gaze softens - he looks thankful, and it eases something in Lance to see that Shiro doesn’t look upset anymore.

 

“Time to split into teams,” he says firmly, and he moves apart from Allura, the two of them standing a distance apart. “Keith, you’re on my team.”

 

Keith’s been quiet this whole while, but as he brushes past Lance his fingers slip and tangle with Lance’s, a small squeeze of reassurance.

 

“Coran,” Allura says, and Coran joins her with a nod, pulling at his moustache.

 

“Hunk.”

 

“Pidge.”

 

In just a few seconds, the teams are settled, standing on either side of Lance. Shiro’s the leader of the first team, Allura’s the leader of the other. It’s going to be a tough battle and Lance blinks furiously at the thought that he’s missing out.

 

“Time to suit up,” Shiro says, and looks at Lance one more time, eyebrow raised as if to question his choice.

 

Lance flaps his hand at him and leans against the dashboard. “Go on, I’ll be watching.”

 

Allura’s team strides out first, discussing tactics, while Shiro’s team lingers in the hall, making their own plans. It’s ten ticks before they move out, and Shiro throws Lance a small smile as they leave.

 

“This is the most intense capture-the-flag I’ve ever played,” Hunk mutters to Keith as they walk out, and they both look back at Lance one more time. “Why are we so hardcore about it? It feels like we’re going on a suicide mission.”

 

“Just go,” Lance says, lips tugging up. “Please destroy the other team.”

 

“You’re not supposed to have a team you’re rooting for,” Hunk reminds him, but shoots him a two fingered salute.

 

Keith shrugs, but waits for Hunk to leave before darting back and pressing his lips against Lance’s. “Thanks for the sacrifice,” he murmurs. “Shiro looked pretty torn up.”

 

“As I said, just destroy the other team. Pidge bet me her team would win. I need to win some money to get my mood back up.”

 

“On it,” Keith says, and leaves.

 

Lance turns to face the screens that have popped up, the cameras showing each corner and corridor of the castle, and settles down to watch.

 

-=-

 

“Here’s the thing,” Shiro murmurs under his breath. “Pidge, Allura and Coran know this castle like the back of their hands. They have the geological advantage over us. We know that they have their flag in the training room, _somewhere_. And they know that we have ours in the lounge.”

 

“Pidge may hack into the cameras to find the feed and watch us,” Keith points out. “And we aren’t certain who they’ll leave behind to keep watch. It’s a toss up between Allura and Coran. Allura seems like she’ll want to be on the frontlines, so she’ll probably be part of the attack team. But Coran’s the quiet type, he may be surprisingly vicious.”

 

“I can stop Pidge from hacking into anything or messing with the castle’s systems,” Hunk says firmly. “I’ve worked with her long enough to roughly get her style.”

 

“Good, Hunk, stay here. You’ll be our last line of defence. Keith, you raise a good point - both of them may be attackers, and Pidge is capable enough to be the sole defence. I’ll stay close by the lounge to ward off any attackers, be it Coran or Allura, and you sneak over to the training room to get the flag.” Shiro seems more comfortable like this, giving instructions under his breath to a bunch of people in the flesh, instead of yelling instructions in Black and watching the reactions of those under his lead from screens on the dashboard. “Use your BB guns excessively.”

 

He smiles lightly, an exasperated expression on his face. “Don’t bother with saving up ammunition. You have lots of refills with you. Go crazy, but make sure you hit them. We can’t have them coming for us without mercy because we were soft on them.”

 

It’s a pretty interesting gun, made with alien technology, and the pellets are exactly like BB pellets from Earth. Painful for a few ticks, but that’s about it.

 

“Allura would kill us if we went soft on her,” Keith mutters under his breath.

 

“Pidge would screw our rooms up,” Hunk says, voice shaking, eyes haunted. “She did it to me once at the garrison and oh boy, Lance and I fell asleep in classes for a week straight because we couldn’t sleep at night.”

 

“So keep your eyes open, don’t go easy on them, and follow the plan.” Shiro stretches, and tightens the grip on his gun. “Follow the plan _until_ circumstances decide otherwise. Keep in touch with the earpiece, and update each other regularly. We’re going to win this.”

 

“Pidge bet with Lance on the outcome of this game,” Keith adds.

 

Shiro’s lips tug up, and his voice is colored with amusement. “Then let’s go win some money for your boyfriend.”

 

-=-

 

“Allura, who’s staying as defence? I mean, I could, but frankly Keith is probably going to attack and I’m not too sure I can beat Keith in a one on one battle.”

 

“Pidge, do you remember what I always tell you and the paladins? About Voltron and your lions?” Allura smiles, eyes closed, pretty and deadly.

 

“... Oh boy, you’re _vicious_.” Pidge’s very impressed.

 

“We’re going to win this,” Coran says, cracking his knuckles, at least fifty refills strapped onto his chest and hanging off his hips.

 

“Of course we are,” Allura grins dangerously, and checks her suit. “Those boys made a wrong decision letting us all wear the same suits.”

 

And oh, oh god, Coran’s starting to slim, skin turning paler and hair turning blacker until - okay, Pidge may never sleep alright at night again.

 

Keith looks back at him, eyebrows raised, and fingers tugging at an invisible moustache.

 

-=-

 

It’s way too quiet. Lance squints at the screens. There’s no way it should be this quiet. Where’s the shooting? The screaming? The yelling? Capture-the-flag is big and violent and deliciously horrifying with the very real threat of dismemberment, so where is it?

 

And there- oh look, he thinks, leaning in. There’s Keith. Sneaking around the corner, hands on his gun, looking like a good little trooper- Lance coughs, eyes blowing wide. There’s like, a hundred ammunition refills strapped to him. That’s definitely overkill. Has Keith always been this viciously violent? Where’s his knife? The knife that sticks to him even in his sleep? The knife that Lance has to fight with over Keith’s attention?

 

Something’s not right. He looks closer, tapping at the screen, wishing for it to zoom in. It doesn’t zoom in, but Keith does turn and hurry down the corridor, ducking into a room to hide and _yes_ , Lance _knew it_.

 

That ass doesn’t belong to Keith. That is _not_ Keith. It’s an Altean, for god's’ sake, disguising as Keith. Oh goodness, he hopes it’s Allura doing the shapeshifting, not Coran, because he isn’t sure if he’ll ever be able to look Coran in the eye after vaguely checking out his ass when he was disguised as Keith.

 

Lance isn’t even sure if he’ll be able to look Keith in the eye anymore. Their relationship will be forever ruined because of Coran disguising as Keith. Today will be the day they break up.

 

There’s another Keith on screen, and Lance can see the curve of his knife against his hip and he stares at that Keith like a man in the desert stares at a mirage of an oasis, trying to commit it to memory and cleanse his mind.

 

This game is way more intense than he expected.

 

-=-

 

Pidge, as expected, is hacking into the castle’s systems. Hunk, to the best of his ability, is fending off Pidge’s attacks - he’s dying, he’s really dying, Pidge is coming at him like she’s trying to kill him over the internet and Hunk is dying, he doesn’t know how to cope, Pidge is so scary, Jesus. So much drive trapped in a small girl. Hunk is shaking as he types, trying to block her out. Sooner or later, she’s going to get in.

 

“She’s going to get in sooner or later,” he tells his team, and he’s answered with a scream.

 

“Keith?!” Hunk yells, and he can hear Shiro’s worried whispering. It’s very unlike Keith to scream - if he’s screaming, it’s serious. Really serious. Oh boy, what has the other team come up with? This is scary. Hunk is getting scared. Where’s Lance, he needs some cuddle time, pronto.

 

“Pidge!” Keith screams. “Green!”

 

“What?” Hunk says, because Pidge is increasing her attacks and he can’t keep up. “What about Pidge? What about Green? What do you-”

 

It hits him like a sledgehammer, and Shiro is laughing, laughing quietly but there’s agony in his voice, like he isn’t sure whether to start crying or not. He probably should, because their team is about to _lose_.

 

“Green is here and she’s trying to eat me!” Keith shouts, and there’s a crash and a bang, and a high laugh that belongs to Pidge. “I can see the flag, it’s right there, but Pidge is sitting next to it and Green is just jumping around like she’s trying to _catch_ me, and she’s huge, okay?! I am not equipped to deal with a large green lion robot! The garrison did _not_ prepare me for this!”

 

“Keep calm,” Shiro says. “I see Allura. I’m going to engage her - Keith, just stay calm, okay? Deep breaths, Green isn’t actually out to kill you, Pidge isn’t that savage, just try to dive for it, alright? Dive for the flag, get your hands around it, and run out of that room like the devil’s about to come for you.”

 

“The devil is about to come for me right now, and her name is Pidge!” Keith sounds hysterical. “I’m going to _die_! Goddammit, the flag, I can’t- _ugh_.”

 

“Stay _calm_ , Keith. Deep breaths.”

 

“It was a pleasure fighting with you two, but I really don’t think I’m going to make it. Shiro, please, stop Lance from choking on his idiocy. That’s all I ask.”

 

There’s another shout, but Hunk can’t reply; he’s too busy trying to type faster and get the cameras back to normal because Pidge is slowly but surely gaining control over them.

 

-=-

 

“Princess, are you in position?”

 

“Shiro’s - _huff_ \- he’s engaged me in combat Coran, just - _ack_ \- move on with your mission.”

 

“ _Is that Coran? Tell him he -oof- won’t get the flag.”_ Shiro’s voice filters in over the earpiece, and Coran can hear Allura snarl in good fun.

 

“You can tell him that when the flag’s in his hands,” she says, and Coran can picture her now, baring her teeth at Shiro and making him work for it.

 

“Pidge, update?”

 

“Keith’s occupied over here!” Pidge says brightly. “Go ahead!”

 

“Alright,” Coran says, and runs his hand through his hair. “I’m going in.”

 

The door to the lounge is right in front of him, and he runs around in circles for a bit, working up a sweat, panting and trying to catch his breath, before tumbling into the lounge.

 

-=-

 

“Keith!” Hunk’s up, computer left behind - let’s face it, Pidge had already gained full control, there’s no way Hunk’s going to wrestle back control. Hunk’s not too bad at defence, but attacking? Cyber-attacking? He’s pretty sure he failed that class or something. “Are you okay?”

 

Keith looks tired, sweat running down his face and eyes blown wide. “Pidge used Green!” He says, and his voice sounds a little weird, a little higher, a little cracked. Probably because of how tired he was. “That’s- huff, not fair!”

 

“Allura _did_ always tell us our lions are extensions of ourselves,” Hunk says, but pats Keith gently on the back. “I just can’t believe she used that loophole. And uh, you’re carrying a lot of ammunition. Were you carrying that much when you left?”

 

“I picked up some more before going to the training room,” Keith mumbles. “Definitely wasn’t enough, not with Green.”

 

“Didn’t Shiro tell you to stay and try to get the flag?” Hunk points out, and Keith looks terrified for a moment.

 

“He- he did,” he stammers awkwardly, and okay, Hunk feels a little bad for the guy. “But I mean, going up against _Green_ , there’s no way it’ll work. So I ran back to get backup. Do you think you can distract Green while I go get the flag?”

 

Hunk frowns. “What about _our_ flag?”

 

“Shiro’s holding Allura off for now, and Pidge’s in the training room. I’m pretty sure I saw Coran in there with her, so they’re definitely not going anywhere. Come on, I need some help.”

 

Keith’s a little rushed, a little too hurried, and come to think of it, his voice doesn’t just sound a little weird, it sounds _very weird_. And his fingers keep twitching, coming up to his mouth before going back down again.

 

It clicks way too fast, and Hunk backs away, eyes growing wide. “ _Coran?_ ” He asks, completely horrified, feeling betrayal hit him like a thousand suns, and Keith- _fake-Keith_ \- smiles apologetically.

 

“Sorry Hunk,” fake-Keith says, and runs, faster than Hunk can, darting around to get his hands on the flag. It’s one of the Altean flags Allura dug up from a room. “But I’m taking this.”

 

He rips it off the pole, gripping it tightly and flashes Hunk a smile. God, was Coran always this cool?

 

“Alteans - and Pidge - will win!” He yells, pointing his fingers at Hunk and making tiny shooting noises before running off, and Hunk can’t help it- he just laughs, laughs long and hard.

 

-=-

 

“Princess, I’ve got the flag.”

 

“Good! Get to the main hall, you need to scan it against the dashboard to prove our win!”

 

_“Coran has the flag?!”_

 

Coran laughs, still in Keith’s form, and bursts through the double doors.

 

He’s greeted with a blinding smile, a boy all suited up, and hands ripping the flag from his grip, eyes bright as he takes off running. Coran yelps and looks at his empty hands for a while, before giving chase.

 

Since _when_ was Lance in the game?!

 

-=-

 

“Here comes that boy!” There’s a loud yell, the slamming open of the door and Keith doesn’t turn because Green almost swallowed him, but his lips tug up because he’d recognise that voice anywhere. Hunk must have tapped out.

 

There’s a figure darting past him, and his flag is in those hands so it’s probably Lance, Keith’s certain he saw brown skin, and- he freezes for a tick, eyes wide, mouth agape as he stares at what’s the spitting image of himself chasing after Lance.

 

Pidge is screaming, laughing as she does, and she throws herself at Lance, fighting. Lance shouts, going down, but he calls out for Green as he does so and Green, bless the robot, turns to look at Lance.

 

The rules were the first team to _scan_ the flag, not get their hands on it, and while fake-Keith and Pidge _and_ Green are distracted by Lance, the brilliant boy, Keith makes for Allura’s flag, tearing it off the pole and sprinting.

 

He can hear indignant cries behind him and a pounding of footsteps, and he tosses a look behind him to find fake-Keith chasing after him. They must make a sight, two Keiths running along a corridor.

 

But Keith is faster - faster than fake-Keith, at any rate, phew - and he lets out a victory cry as he runs through the doors and slams the flag down on the dashboard.

 

“Game Over.” Pidge’s previously recorded voice echoes through the castle, and before long Lance and Pidge are tumbling in through the double doors, laughing as they push at each other, and Hunk comes in cheerfully, punching fake-Keith lightly in the shoulder.

 

Shiro and Allura are last, eyes wide and trying to catch their breath as they enter together. “Who won?” Allura asks, vibrating with anticipation.

 

“We did.” Keith says, and Shiro brightens, before furrowing his brows and looking at fake-Keith.

 

“Um,” he says, and now that Keith knows Allura didn’t shapeshift, he’s not sure how he feels about Coran looking exactly like him. It’s weird.

 

“Shiro’s team won,” Lance says, sliding in beside Keith and wrapping an arm around his hip. “Hunk tapped out, so I joined. No biggie. Just the MVP of the game. No need to thank me.”

 

He grins, and Keith jabs his elbow back, hitting Lance in the solar plexus. Lance goes down, whining as he grips his abdomen, cursing Keith.

 

Fake-Keith turns back into Coran, who shakes his head at Allura, looking endlessly disappointed. “Princess, my apologies. I did not expect Lance to know that I was not the real Keith.”

 

“Yeah, well,” Lance starts from his position on the floor. “You did a pretty good copy of Keith, but you couldn’t get his butt right.”

 

Keith- he flushes, bright red and hot, and Lance laughs even as Keith weakly hits him. Everyone’s laughing, even Allura and Coran, and Allura puts her hand out for Shiro.

 

“Good game,” she says, eyes glinting. “We’ll win next time. What’s the tally now?”

 

“Five-four, to us,” Shiro replies, and grips her hand. “The team under my leadership will win again, surely.”

 

“The team which has The Lance will be the winning team!” Lance calls out, and winks at Pidge. “You owe me money.”

 

“Regrettably,” Pidge says, but she’s smiling, everyone’s smiling, and they’re sweaty and tired and yes, this was a great team bonding exercise, as it always is.

 

Capture-the-flag is always intense every time they play it, and it gets more intense _every time they play it_ , which makes it absolutely, terrifyingly brilliant.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review with your thoughts or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/) .


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